How did my plasma ball break my alarm clock?

So I have a plasma ball on my night stand, right next to my digital alarm clock, and I have noticed that when I play with it, it makes my alarm clock spazz out and hits buttons I didn't press. I had thought that was kind of weird and cool, but didn't give it too much thought. Then today I decided to mess... show more So I have a plasma ball on my night stand, right next to my digital alarm clock, and I have noticed that when I play with it, it makes my alarm clock spazz out and hits buttons I didn't press. I had thought that was kind of weird and cool, but didn't give it too much thought. Then today I decided to mess with it again and my clock was broken afterwards(it is not out of batteries). My clock never even touched the ball, but somehow the ball managed to short circuit my alarm clock. How is this possible?

Those plasma balls generate a LOT of RF noise, that can effect digital electronics in close proximity with unpredictable results.
You should hear the racket they create in the LF AM bands. worse than electric motors.
Yes, a strong enough field could damage some electronics, much like EMP from solar flares or atom bombs.

The glass ball doesn't totally contain the energy generated by its coil, such that a fluorescent tube held next to it will glow. Stray RF from the plasma ball can be picked up by a device's wires and components as if they were antennas, and introduce unwanted voltages into the circuit.

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How did my plasma ball break my alarm clock?

So I have a plasma ball on my night stand, right next to my digital alarm clock, and I have noticed that when I play with it, it makes my alarm clock spazz out and hits buttons I didn't press. I had thought that was kind of weird and cool, but didn't give it too much thought. Then today I decided to mess with it again and my clock was broken afterwards(it is not out of batteries). My clock never even touched the ball, but somehow the ball managed to short circuit my alarm clock. How is this possible?